UK consultation on enhancing modern slavery statements: beyond minimum compliance
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Matthew Townsend
Partner Global Co-Head International Environment, Climate and Regulatory Law Group
London
26 July 2019
The UK’s Modern Slavery Act 2015 (the Act) was heralded as the first legislation of its kind globally and is thought to have inspired a number of other governments to introduce their own supply chain transparency and due diligence laws.
However, as the UK Government has come to realise following an independent review of the Act, if legal obligations are not backed up by an effective enforcement mechanism and penalties, they have very limited effect. Of the 17,000 organisations thought to be required to produce a modern slavery statement under the Act, only around 60% have published a statement and many of those statements are of poor quality1 which is why the Government is now consulting on adding “teeth” to the modern slavery statement requirements in the Act.